## **Chairman's Report: A year of community engagement. (Earls Colne Heritage Museum - Year Ending December 31, 2025)** 2025 was a year of continued community engagement and growth. A major focus mid-year was the commemoration of VE-80 where the Museum led the village’s celebration of this important event. ## **Key Accomplishments:** ## **• Connecting with More People: The Museum continued to attract more visitors, both individually and as organised groups (656, 435 -2024) and attendance at talks/walks: (1165, 683-2024)** - **Honouring Our History:** a major event was the unveiling of a Blue Plaque, the first in the village, to honour Mary Gee, an important philanthropist in the 19[th] Century – unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex - **Engaging Young Minds:** Our annual educational programme reached 60 Year 4 students from Earls Colne Primary School. This was conducted over 2 days to ensure full participation. The Museum also reached out to all 450 children of the Primary School and their parents/guardians, with a pop-up gazebo and display to commemorate VE-80 - **Sharing Local Knowledge:** The Museum hosted over 40 events/community engagements over the year. These included “drop-in” library sessions, village walks, and two major WW2 commemoration talks, each attracting audiences of over 200. - **Preserving Our Past Digitally:** The Museum continue its activities to preserve important historical records through an extensive scanning programme. We have now completed scanning the Parish Council minutes from 1909, and the Earls Cone Primary School logbooks dating from 1869. We continue to scan the Parish Church magazines from the 19[th] century onwards. - **Heritage Recognition.** The Museum successfully installed historical information boards in the Atlas Community Gardens, adjacent to the Museum. - **Securing vital funding.** With the impending end of the short-term lease in May 2026, we applied to the NLHF for a grant to cover both the purchase, renovations, and reimagining of the Museum. A “Plan B” to ensure sufficient funds through individual and corporate donations to purchase the Water Tower, should our application be unsuccessful, was launched. - **Volunteer recruitment,** We are very pleased that the volunteer base continues to grow. From 5 volunteers in 2022, the Museum now has over 20 active volunteers, plus the Trustee board of 6. The broad skills and interests of all those involved ensure that we are able to maintain and develop the heritage of Earls Colne recognised academically as the “most-documented village in England” ## **Financial Health:** The Treasurer's report provides a detailed financial overview. We maintain a solid reserve of over £11,000. ## **Gratitude:** I extend my sincere thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers, our committed board members, our generous donors, and our supportive community partners. Their invaluable contributions are essential to the museum's ongoing success and impact. **Our Vision for 2026:** As we look ahead to 2026, our immediate focus will be on our application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Alongside this crucial endeavour, we will continue our programme of engaging events and our ongoing research into the rich heritage of our community. Thank you for your continued support. I am optimistic about another successful year for the Earls Colne Heritage Museum **----- Start of picture text -----**
Charity Name No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 01-Jan-25 31-Dec-25
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Talks Walks Donations Books 8,849 - - 8,849 6,773
Merchandise sales 210 - - 210 405
Lancaster Memorial - - - - 3,702
Major Donations and grants 12,403 - 12,403 8,930
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - 21,462 19,810
Sub total (Gross income for AR) [ 21,462 ]
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 21,462 - - 21,462 19,810
A3 Payments
Marketing - 644 - - - 644 477
Website - 798 - - - 798 1,109
Books and Research (inc software) - 3,839 - - - 3,839 1,517
Premises and Insurance - 4,579 - - - 4,579 1,912
Talks and Walks and Events - 6,228 - - - 6,228 722
Printing Postage Stationery and Storage - 109 - - - 109 247
Atlas Gardens - 3,786 - 3,786 -
Lancaster Memorial - - - - 3,277
Merchandise - 204 - - - 204 544
Subs and Donations - 305 - - - 305 126
Sub total [- 20,492 ] - - - 20,492 9,930
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments - 20,492 - - - 20,492 9,930
Net of receipts/(payments) 970 # - - 970 9,880
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 10,434 - - 10,434 554
Cash funds this year end 11,405 - - 11,405 10,434
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